Crutches No More

A is off his crutches, although not quite back to normal, which is a very lovely thing. No more fear of stairs, no more terrifyingly slow crosswalk use, no more jamming them into the mini-van like another slim, metallic person, and no more A tripping everyone in sight with his dastardly go-go-gadget metal arms....just kidding on that last one. :) It is very nice though. The others are real gratefulnesses and we are so glad to have life a tiny bit more usual again.

The weather has been lovely but I hear that a tropical storm...morphing into a hurricane is slowly working its way up the coast. Time to hunker down. I need to post our ancient metal fireplace insert on Craigslist and then have the chimney cleaned so that we can have fires on the hearth again while we sit huddled with a stack of reads. Ru is getting better and better at reading but it is a mysterious skill almost entirely confined to his "reading book" where I've been working with him.

He is just starting to experiment with muttering sounds under his breath in a forgotten corner of the house or in the inner reaches of the minivan when he thinks I am not listening. His brow puckers and he makes little staccato attempts at sounding out an advertisement for Reese's cups or the latest volume of Asterix and Obelix from the library. Its a tenuous dance. I love watching him teeter on the edge of discovering the world of print but I hate to let him wait too long or miss the opportunity when he doesn't accidently make it work for himself. How much to push and how much let it be organic? The age old question. Just how unschooler am I?

This morning I lost Nib for a bit and then finally he answered  my shouts and came tripping brightly down from the second floor. It took until lunchtime before I figured out what he'd been up to. We had a "picnic" lunch on the kitchen floor together (Mommy laziness trick!) and I noticed he'd neatly address stamped the soles of his feet. If ever lost....he'll be no problem to return...as long as he's turned upside down and examined barefoot.

Miq The Fairytale Genius

So, I've mentioned before that A has this brother, Miq who is utterly splendiferous in his own right and is married to the equally wonderful Penny. Lately, one of the big events in our extended family has been Uncle Miq's deployment to Iraq. (Ru is very impressed) All of us have been watching Facebook for the little updates he throws Stateside and doing what we can to stay in touch with Penny and their daughters. His little girls who are my boys cousins are now down to just one utterly fabulous parent which, is not as bad as it might be but, is obviously far less than ideal. We're all thinking of them often and watching (as much as you can watch when they live in Germany and we all live on this side of the pond) and wishing them all the very best.

But that Miq is a clever one. Never the type to sit on his hands mournfully in the middle of all that burning sand...he's been dreaming up one of the most creative and lovely daddy gifts I've ever seen. Sandstorms must be good for the imagination. He's been writing (from scratch mind you) lavish, bedtime fairytales for his daughters and recording himself telling them. If they half as big a hit with his daughters as they are with my sons, his special stories will never be forgotten in family lore.

At our house, we play them over and over and over.

So far, there are two installments...but, I expect there are more forthcoming. How many more? Heaven only knows...but, every one is a gem and whatever arrives we'll all rejoice.

I'm toying with sketching up some watercolor illustrations of Aclaircy's adventures. They're such beautifully imaginative stories, I'd have fun creating visuals.

Without further ado folks....The Amazing Uncle Miq:





Much love to you Miq as you wait and work and while away the days and days and days. We're rooting for you!